Un solo sguardo

Coben's books are all eerily alike, and sadly, this movie adaption is no exception. Boring and formulaic from the get go, it never recovers. No character development, subtlety or surprises. I tried hard to ignore my prejudice against American crime fiction (James Patterson being the worst offender). At least Coben seems to write the books himself, but at this stage I reckon I could write the next one... maybe an easy way to make those elusive millions without actually having to put in the hard work? Dreams are free...however, I'd be boring myself, I've read too many excellent - predominsnzly British - whodunnits. By all accounts, American audiences are looking for different fare.

It's pretty much exactly what I'd expect after watching two other adaptations of his books. (I find them frustrating and silly but treat them like a guilty pleasure from time to time.) He's got a formula, which makes certain plot points very predictable. Certain characters always make foolish, questionable choices. The people mentioning the fact that this one is Polish are revealing themselves. It's so similar to Fool Me Once. If you think that one was great and this was horrible, and if you complain about the Polish names and can't spell the name Jacek when we saw and heard it ad nauseam, that's a "you" issue.

What a frustrating watch. This show had potential, but the characters? Absolutely infuriating.

Let's start with the dumb wife-her husband goes missing under mysterious circumstances, she gets shot at, her kids are threatened... and her first instinct? Not to call her husband's colleagues or get real help, but to start making jewelry. Priorities, I guess. Then she turns down private protection-why? She's a mousy, unprepared person up against actual criminals, yet somehow thinks she can handle this alone? And to top it off, she conveniently knows nothing-nothing about a major accident in her past, nothing about her husband. How useful are you, lady?

The dumber husband isn't any better. He notices someone following him, confronts them without being armed, then turns his back like it's all good. Of course, he gets sucker punched. He escapes... and then just gets found again. Fantastic.

The police? Useless. Casual, sarcastic, wasting time on unnecessary details, and just completely unsympathetic. Then there's the prosecutor, who starts off with what seemed like an important storyline about his daughter but does absolutely nothing except stalk the dumb wife. His actual contribution? Zero.

Even the dumb wife's friend, who at least had the sense to call the police quickly, still managed to fumble her role. If you're trying to be subtle while snooping, maybe don't openly announce your sneak peeks? Just saying.

Then we have the bad guy, and honestly? Props to him for being the only competent character. He keeps winning, and at this point, I don't even mind.

The story itself? A mess. Too many pointless side characters that add nothing. The initial intrigue gets buried under ridiculous character choices, and by the end, you just don't care anymore. Hard pass.

Another story with so many holes. Frustrating the viewer as they ponder through the scenes as to whether this or that would happen. Could be so much better. Whether the author or the producers I get the impression one does not get out much. Usual bring in a pretty main character a bit of sex an old prosecutor and make a mix and hope. Watch if you like murder mystery but do not expect much. So many errors. A prison inmate on the loose that the police can't catch and seem to be impotent. No reason for all the scenes. No connections between characters. A story that gets worse as you watch. Directed as in the 70's but set today.

Harlan Coben stories sure get around. This time, it's a Polish-made production, although it could just as easily have been set in America or Britain as so many have in the past.

That said, over eight episodes, here you get another tightly plotted, character-heavy series. The story goes through many convolutions not to say convulsions, as Mr Coben performs his usual trick of spinning many plates at once, allowing the assembled crockery to fall one piece at a time before there's just one remaining suspended in the air for the final reveal.

Also as usual, past events cast a long shadow over the present as we see a young Polish wife and mother's happy world turned upside down when her husband is passed an old photo, which upsets him causing him to promptly disappear without trace. Said photo is a snapshot of a mixed-sex rock band taken ten years ago just before a fire takes place at the concert venue, killing a young female band member. The father of the young woman who died is a recently retired prosecutor with whom the abandoned wife somewhat reluctantly joins forces to not only try to track down her missing husband but also learn the real explanation as to why the fire started and who was responsible for it. Part of this is wrapped up in the disputed authorship of the later hit song which gives the series its title.

All four surviving people in the old picture will see their lives affected dramatically as the past comes back to haunt them in different ways. If only the young wife could regain her own memory of that night as she was there too but in the trauma of surviving the blaze, undiscovered for days before being rescued, she's blocked it out of her memory, but you can bet she'll gradually regain it as events move quickly. All the while the body count starts to mount so much so that even the police in pursuit finally get a wriggle on with their investigation.

Even if some of the connections between the myriad characters on show seem at best tenuous and at worst absolutely fantastical, it's worth hanging on until the end when you can sit back, rest your mind and try retrospectively to join the dots. Good luck with that!

I thought the direction was superior for this type of production with a number of scenes imaginatively and dramatically rendered and would also commend the quality of the acting too, especially the actress taking the lead role who has a very expressive face.

Perhaps unnecessarily violent at times, this was definitely one of the better Coben adaptations I've seen. I'm just as sure that it won't be long before another mini-series inspired by one of his works pops up on the schedules again. Perhaps the biggest mystery then is how he is so prolific at knocking out such deviously crafted mysteries time after time.